Sweet Dreams
by Tinni93
Summary: PRJF - After Dai Shi has a terrible nightmare, it gives him the idea to attack the rangers in thier dreams. Will the rangers be able to survive the nightmares Dai Shi and his new monster inflicts on them? Takes place after 'Brotherly Love'.
1. Restless Dai Shi

**Sweet Dreams**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Power Rangers in any way, shape or form.**

The moon was hanging high in the night sky in Ocean Bluff. Wind blew through the trees softly. All seemed silent and calm. Everywhere—except for Dai Shi's sleeping chamber. He was tossing and turning back and forth in his sleep. He seemed very restless and was sweating greatly. His breathing came in strained breaths. He was having some sort of a nightmare, and it was tormenting him. He grasped his black blankets trimmed in gold tightly in his fists—as if he was trying to fight off what his dreams were producing. But he saw it plain as day. He saw all of the good deeds that Jarrod had done in his life while he was in control. Big things and small things. Whether it was raking the stray leaves in his neighbor's yard, or aiding students that were struggling at Pai Zhuq at the time. He could feel Jarrod struggling to break free from his grip, wanting to be free to complete more good deeds once again, but Dai Shi wasn't about to let that happen. He couldn't. The voices from his once proud past rang loudly in his head. He jerked to try and awaken—but couldn't.

"Step off of this path of evil, Jarrod…"

_"Jarrod's good will is an antidote to your poison, and one day Jarrod will cast you out!"_

"_Jarrod…Jarrod!""Jarrod!!"_

The voices grew to a point where they were so loud, that it caused him to jump awake. He cried out in fear as he shot up into a sitting position. He took a quick glance around the cold and empty room. The only sounds that filled the quiet air was his quivering breaths. He felt beads of sweat trickle down his face. He saw when he looked down that his hands were shaking. He paused and ran his fingers through his hair trying to fathom what had just happened. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when he felt a small light hit his face. He shielded his eyes as he watched the door to his room open. Framed in the doorway was Camille. She glanced over at him with concerned eyes.

"Dai Shi? Are you alright?" she asked, walking over to him. She sat at his beside. Dai Shi gave a shaky nod without looking at her. "What is it? Did you have a bad dream?" she asked. Dai Shi then finally looked at her. His eyes were a way she had never seen them before. He looked…frightened.

"More like a nightmare." He answered staring back to his sheets. Camille sighed softly then placed her hand on his gently. For a moment, Dai Shi basked in the softness of her touch, but after a moment, he jerked away quickly and his glance turned cold.

"What're you doing wandering around the temple at this hour Camille?" He asked glaring meanly at her. Camille withdrew her hand and placed it in her lap.

"I was just trying to tie up some loose ends around here before I went to sleep. I wanted to make sure that everything was in order for you. That's when I heard you calling out in your sleep." She explained, hoping that his sweet eyes would return.

It didn't. "Well, cancel whatever it was you were doing." Dai Shi snapped as he scrambled out of bed. He headed for the door, grabbing his black cloak off of a metal hook, draping it around his shoulders. "I need a monster to defeat the rangers for good." He said quickly turning around to face her once more. Camille stood and ran over to his side.

"Do you have anything in particular in mind?" She asked carefully. Dai Shi paused and gave her a menacing look.

"Follow me." He said with an evil grin, leaving the room. Camille followed close behind him. Dai Shi led her to the wing of the temple where all the Rin Shi warriors were held until Dai Shi needed them. He passed cage after cage. The Rin Shi inside practicing their moves for the time Dai Shi would find them useful. Dai Shi walked slowly with his arms behind him. Camille strode beside him. "Tonight my sleep was interrupted by a string of what seemed like endless nightmares…that gave me an idea." Dai Shi explained, still passing the cages. Then came to a sudden stop.

"Being?" Camille asked looking at him with curious eyes. Dai Shi then turned to face her. An evil smile was spread wide across his face.

"We destroy the rangers…using nightmares." He said sounding proud of himself.

"Ooh!" Camille said with an excited swoon. "If we destroy them when they're asleep, they'll be destroyed forever. Very sneaky, Dai Shi." She said excitedly. "But which Rin Shi has the ability to attack the rangers in their dreams?" she asked. Dai Shi then gestured to the cell beside them. When Camille peered inside it, she saw a lone monster sitting on the floor. His whole body was wrapped in a black cloak that was ragged on all the ends. The sleeves were too long to see any signs of hands. The hood covered most of his face. When Dai Shi saw this he grinned happily. Camille on the other hand was the opposite, this Rin Shi gave her an eerie feeling, one that she didn't care for.

"What's his animal spirit?" she asked in a frightened tone.

"No one knows. It's hidden underneath his cloak. He truly is one of the most evil of all the Rin Shi." Dai Shi stated proudly. Camille took a step back.

"W-well what's his name." She stammered.

The question made Dai Shi smile. "DarkMare." Then, as if on cue, DarkMare's head rose slowly. A bright shining green eye glowed from the hood of his cloak. The other was shrouded by long white hair.

"How may I be of use to you, Dai Shi?" DarkMare asked in a low voice. A voice that only emerged as a whisper. Camille's eyes grew wide when she heard the eeriness in his voice. She felt her hands shaking a little. Dai Shi, however didn't seemed the least bit phased, he just leaned casually against the bars of the cell.

"I want you to destroy the rangers in their dreams. Your nightmares should do the trick." Dai Shi said. DarkMare paused for a moment.

"That I can do. Any particular nightmares you want me to inflict on them." DarkMare whispered, tilting his head to the side. Dai Shi thought of his own horrible nightmare. The mere thought of in made his body fill with fear again. He forced himself to shake it off. This gave him his answer.

"Prey on their greatest fears. Don't hold back." Dai Shi said evilly. His nightmares from earlier still left him with a shaken feeling.

"Very well." DarkMare stated pulling a pearl about the size of a bowling ball from deep within his cloak. He placed the pearl in front of him on the floor. It resembled a crystal ball. "All we have to do is wait for them to fall into their slumbers." DarkMare told them.

"Excellent." Dai Shi hissed. Camille glanced over at him. She didn't like this plan and she didn't like the evil it brought out in Dai Shi. She glanced over at the strange pearl wondering what powers it held.


	2. Fears Of The Rangers

Later that night in Jungle Karma Pizza, the rangers were locking up the restaurant and cleaning up. It was almost midnight and having gotten up at around six-o-clock that morning, needless to say the rangers were more than exhausted. RJ groggily counted the days profits, Lily mopped the floor, Theo wiped tables and collected the tips from them, Casey placed chairs on top of the tables, and Dominic was gone driving Fran home. All seemed to be in order for the time being. RJ sighed and laid the money made that day in a bright orange pouch that had the 'JKP' logo on it. Lily turned to face him when she heard him sigh and leaned against her mop. Theo and Casey noticed this as well.

"What's wrong, RJ? You seem a little bummed." Lily asked making a pout face.

"Were we under quota or something?" Casey asked lifting a chair placing it on the table. RJ sighed once more.

"No, not really." RJ said lowly. His tone made Theo stop wiping tables for the moment.

"Come on, out with it. You're starting to bum _us_ out." Theo added. Lily playfully hit Theo with the mop at his somewhat insensitive remark.

"Well…I was hoping to raise enough money to buy a new…friend." RJ said somewhat shy with his words. He zipped the pouch closed sadly.

"New friend? Are you sick of us already RJ?" Casey joked with a smile. RJ's eyes opened wide.

"Sick of you guys? My pupils? Never! I was just hoping for a pet friend. Preferably one that likes pizza and my judge shows, ha ha." RJ said with a faint chuckle. The others laughed as well.

"Still pining after Maurice, huh?" Theo asked with a sympathetic smile.

RJ thought over Theo's words and finally nodded. "You could say that. But I've decided that it's time to move on from Maurice. And get a grey mouse named 'Laurice'." RJ said proudly waving his hands to further make his point. Theo and Casey chuckled once more and continued with their work. Lily on the other hand still leaned still against her mop. Then she shuddered.

"Ugh! I don't see how any person could have a mouse for a pet. Only thing worse than a mouse would be a—" She began then suddenly dropped her mop. A look of horror fell over her face. "A spider!!" she continued then without missing a beat hopped up on a nearby booth.

"Hey! I just wiped that table!" Theo scolded. Lily just trembled and pointed in front of her. There was a small brown spider no bigger than a quarter.

"Oh, what? That little thing? It's only a spider." Theo grumbled. "It can't hurt you, Lil." He added trying to calm her. Casey walked by with a chair and laughed softly.

"I still can't believe that after all of the monsters we fight everyday that you're still afraid of a little spider." Casey said, not realizing how hurtful his comment was.

"I just can't help it." Lily said with a sad sigh. Then RJ came from behind the counter with a white piece of paper.

"Have no fear, RJ is here!" RJ said making his way over to the spider. He scooped the spider up with the paper and took it outside and let it go on a tree. "Sorry my little eight-legged friend. No pizza for you." RJ said nicely then reentered JKP. After he closed the door, Lily came down from the booth, sighing with relief.

"Thanks, RJ. Spiders just…" she trailed off.

"No need to explain." RJ said waving his hands. "We all have our fears." Then he turned to Theo. "Take Theo for instance—apparently his greatest fear is doing only one thing at a time." RJ chuckled. The others saw Theo wiping the tables, collecting tips and picking up things that were left on the tables. When he saw all the eyes that were on him he paused.

"Me?" Theo asked pointing at himself.

"Yeah," Lily said lying down her mop then making her way over to him, "you always seem to be doing two or three things at a time." Lily said with smirk. She patted his arm softly. "Just try and relax a little." She said.

"I just want everything to get done as soon and as well as possible." Theo said defensively.

"Come on Theo don't be so hard on yourself." Casey said sitting backwards on a chair he laid on the floor. "Take a break every now and again." Theo nodded weakly. Casey then sighed and picked up the chair he was sitting on and placed in on a table. "Well, I'm heading upstairs. I want to practice a few new moves so that if brother dearest attacks again I won't seem like such a cub." Casey said beginning to leave. Just as he placed his hand on the door, Theo called out to him.

"And what about you? You have your burdens too. You hate the fact that Dai Shi is your brother and you still look at yourself as just a cub." Theo said. Even though his words were harsh, Casey knew that he meant them in a nice way. But he turned and looked sadly at them.

"What?" he said, slowly taking his hand from the door. Lily and Theo just stood there looking at him. They were at a loss for words. RJ wasn't. He walked over to him.

RJ sighed. "You're not a cub anymore, man, you're our leader and a pretty great one…why can't you see that?"

Casey shrugged. "Guess I'm my own worst enemy, huh?" he said sadly. RJ placed his hand on Casey's shoulder.

"Just try and be a little less hard on yourself. We're your friends and we're here for you, and always will be…alright?" RJ said with an affirming smile. Casey just nodded with a small smile of his own. Casey then looked around the room as if looking for something.

"Where's Dom?" he asked looking to Theo and Lily.

"He's giving a Fran a ride home because it's so late. I guess he didn't want her driving alone." Lily said.

"Well, in that case all rangers—excluding Dominic— need to turn in for the night. We're no good against Dai Shi's goons if we're all asleep." RJ announced. Lily yawned and stretched her arms.

"You don't have to tell me twice. I'm bushed." Lily said leaning the mop against the wall. "See you all in the morning." She added then headed upstairs.

"Night, Lil." Casey said with a smile.

"Goodnight, Lily." Theo added. RJ just waved at her to say his goodnight. Casey then removed his orange hat and apron and laid in under the counter.

"I'm headed up too. I hate to skip my extra training, but I can barely keep my eyes open." He said rubbing his eyes. "See ya." RJ and Theo both gave him their 'Goodnights' as he made his way up the stairs.

"This old wolf's gonna hit the hay too. I need to get up bright and early and these good looks don't just appear in the morning, ha." RJ laughed and began up the stairs. After he was about halfway he looked down to Theo. "Don't be up too late, a ranger needs their rest." RJ said.

Theo nodded. "Don't worry, RJ. I'll go to bed soon." RJ nodded and was gone like Casey and Lily. Theo headed back to his tables.

Soft music played from the radio of Dominic's white Mustang. The top was down and the air blew gently through his and Fran's hair. She sat beside him looking out the window, too shy to look over at him, despite how much she wanted too. Dominic pulled over to a small white house with a jade green door.

"Here we are." Dominic said putting the car in park.

"Yeah…" Fran said shyly. Then he and Fran left the car and began walking up the stone walkway to her door.

"Thanks for the ride, Dom. I really appreciate it. I hate driving alone at night." Fran said pushing her hair behind her ears.

"No problem. Anytime." Dominic said with a smile as they reached her front door. The two both stood there for a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Fran's embarrassed chuckle broke it.

"Well…" she said lowly, adjusting her glasses.

"Yeah…" Dominic said. He hated that he was feeling just as shy as she was. Then Fran began to open her door but he reached out his hand and gently grabbed her arm.

"Wait." He said. Fran turned with a shy smile.

"What?" she asked. Then Dominic leaned in and kissed her running his fingers through her sift hair. Afterwards, Fran immediately blushed. "Wow." She grinned.

"See you tomorrow?" Dominic asked with a sweet smile.

Fran nodded excitedly. "Bright and early." Then Dominic headed back to his car. She watched him get in. And before he drove off she waved, he waved back. Then Fran headed inside. After she shut the door, he smiled to himself, he was relived that he didn't chicken out on kissing her. As he put the car in drive, he let out a bug yawn. He was exhausted. The ride over to her house was a long one and he hadn't slept well the night before worrying about the kiss. He drove away putting all his energy in staying awake.

Back at JKP, Casey, Lily and RJ all plopped into their own beds. RJ wore his JKP pants and a violet t-shirt, Lily a small yellow dress with daisies, and Casey a black t-shirt with red pants. Theo meanwhile was still cleaning all of his tables. He sat in a booth wiping it slowly. He fell asleep and jerked awake several times. Finally he laid down in the booth to rest his eyes for a moment and fell into a deep sleep.

Dominic drove drowsily. He was still a long ways away from JKP and decided to pull over to rest for a while. The soft music played as he rested his head against the window. Then almost instantly, was asleep as well.

All of the rangers were dead asleep.


	3. RJ and the Rat

In Dai Shi's lair, DarkMare peered deep into his powerful pearl. He saw that all of the rangers were fast asleep in their beds and knew that this was the time that he would have to make his move.

"All of the rangers have fallen into their slumbers. The time to attack is at hand." DarkMare said in his eerie whisper. This made Dai Shi smile evilly.

"Excellent. Do your worst, starting with the Wolf Master." Dai Shi told him.

DarkMare gave a slight nod. "Very well. Let the nightmares begin." The he began to moves his long, dark arms around the pearl in front of him. When he looked back into it, he saw RJ sleeping in his bed. He had a smile on his face. A smile that DarkMare knew would soon be gone. DarkMare closed his eyes and a faint black fog swirled around him. He sent the fog into the pearl, causing it to appear in RJ's room. The mist made it's way to RJ's bed and entered his head. Almost instantly RJ's peaceful look turned into one of fear.

DarkMare continued to move his arms around his pearl. "That's it Wolf Ranger…sleep." He hissed evilly. RJ started to toss and turn uncomfortably in his bed. He could see his dream as plain as day, making it fell all the more real.

RJ was all alone in a grassy plain. He quickly noticed that he was in his ranger form, which was odd to him because he could remember morphing in the first place. He also noticed something strange about where he was—everything seemed to have a strange violent hue to it. He looked ahead to see if he could find anyone, but all he saw was miles and miles of grass.

"_Okaaay…this is strange. Where am I?" RJ asked himself as he continued to walk on. He heard a faint bell ringing in the distance. He quickly turned to see if he could find the origin of the noise—but had no luck. So decided to keep on walking. He came to a abrupt stop when he found a small brown mouse crawling around in the grass, he knelt to pick it up. "Hey little fella, what're you doing all the way out here by yourself?" he stroked the back of the mouse gently._

_The peaceful moment was interrupted by the ringing noise again. Only this time, the sound was much louder. RJ took the hand that he wasn't holding the mouse with and covered one of his ears._

_Meanwhile in RJ's bed, he had a tight grip on both of his ears to try and drown out the noise._

_In his dream, he called out loudly before the noise. "What __is__ that?!" The bells rang so loudly that it caused the ground to rumble a little bit. RJ struggled to see what was omitting this horrible ringing, and he finally did._

"_Ring a ding ding, Wolf Ranger!!" A loud and obnoxious voice yelled. Then a monster jumped down as if from nowhere. The monster was a large rat-like creature with large dollar bill like objects covering his entire body. His fur on his face was dark grey, and he had red eyes as well as two large bells on both sides of his head that caused the ringing._

"_You're__ creating that awful racket!!" RJ yelled pointing forward at the rat creature before him._

_The rat just pranced round stupidly. "Nothing gets by you, huh?"_

_RJ knew that he was most likely about to be in battle and decided to place the mouse he held back in the grass._

"_Run away, Laurice. I'll handle this freak." RJ said softly to him, and much to his surprise, the moue began to head off. _

"_The name's CashRat to you!" CashRat called out in an offended manner. RJ turned slowly back at the monster._

"_Who cares? You're going down!" RJ yelled, leaping at the monster. The two through punches and kicks at one another trying to overcome the other, but their powers seemed pretty equally matched. _

"_Enough of this pointless sparring!!" CashRat shouted and swiped his claw hard against RJ's chest. His suit sparked and smoked from the blow and RJ hit one knee. He knew that he would have to get his bearings—and fast._

_In RJ's bed, he squirmed all over the place, gripping his cover tightly, whereas back in his dream CashRat was closing in on him._

"_What's wrong Wolfie? You don't like my bells?" CashRat said in a taunting tone. Then he began to shake his head from side to side causing the bells by his head to ring in an explosive way. RJ hit the ground clasping his hands around his head to soften the noise. He pressed his head against the grass. "Aw, too much?" CashRat said making the bells come to sudden stop then fired dollar bill missiles at RJ. RJ still heard the bells ringing in his helmet. He tried to make it to his feet, but before he could, the small yet powerful missiles hit. RJ rolled to a stop in the grass. He felt like he was stuck against the ground, and CashRat still grew closer._

_DarkMare watched from his holding cell. He kept continuing to add to RJ's nightmare and all the while watching him squirm in his sleep—loving every moment of it._

_In the plains, CashRat rang his bells as loud as he could once again. RJ felt like his ears were about to burst, he couldn't take much more of this._

"_I've got to make this stop!" RJ cried._

"_Fat chance!!" CashRat snickered. _

"_Ugh, but how!!" RJ grunted, "I can't even think!" But he tried as hard as he could and it finally clicked. "My Wolf Morpher should be able to do the trick…" he peered down at the violet device on his wrist and quickly opened it. He looked up to see that CashRat was no more than a few feet away from him._

"_Say goodnight, ranger!" CashRat yelled and extended his arms firing the dollar missiles at RJ once again. But before they made contact with him, RJ deflected them with his Wolf Beams. The two airborne attacks collided in midair causing an explosion. Smoke swirled all around the two of them. "What?! How'd you deflect my attack?" CashRat said as the smoke began to clear._

"_It's all in the wrist!" RJ said holding up his wrist again, firing his beams rapidly at CashRat. CashRat crumpled to the ground like paper._

"_No!! This can't be!" CashRat whined as he lay in the grass. RJ walked over to him and closed his Morpher. _

"_Don't mess with the Wolf Ranger." RJ said coolly and sent a final powerful punch at CashRat, thus causing him to turn to stone, then explode. "Oh yeah!" RJ cheered at his victory. Then he felt a small creature crawling around his foot. He looked down to see Laurice. "We did it, Laurice!" RJ said happily picking up the small mouse._

_And just like that, his nightmare ended,_

RJ quickly shot up in his bed. He looked around in total confusion as he sat himself up. He let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Whoa…heavy." He said to himself, still a little jarred from his nightmare. "So it was just a dream. Seemed so real." He thought for a few moments than shook his head, trying to understand what just happened. He still felt a little freaked out. "I need my chair." He said to himself. Then he rose from his bed and headed into the loft.


	4. Theo's Five Fingers of Poison

Back at Dai Shi's lair, Dai Shi growled loudly into DarkMare's cell. He gave him an intense 'you better have a good explanation for yourself' look.

"What happened, DarkMare? You failed in destroying the Wolf Master!" Dai Shi said with a scowl. DarkMare didn't take his eyes off of his pearl, he just kept his gaze on it. After a moment, he stopped and his bright green eye peered up at Dai Shi.

"That was only a minor setback. There are still four rangers left to destroy." DarkMare said. "And they _will_ be." DarkMare added, then turned his attention back to the orb before him. Deep within it, he now saw Theo fast asleep in the JKP booth. "Sleep little Jaguar…" DarkMare hissed as he sent his mist into the pearl, then into Theo.

Theo, like RJ, began shifting in his sleep. He seemed to be very restless. He flinched every now and again to try and shake off what he was seeing. Little did he know that his nightmare was just beginning.

Theo found himself on a deserted beach. He looked around in confusion trying to get a grip on where he was. He reached down and saw that he was in his blue ranger uniform, he grabbed on it and thought back. He didn't remember morphing, and that bugged him.

"What? How'd I get here and…when did I morph?" he asked himself as he walked on. To where, he didn't know. Then he heard an all too familiar voice come from beyond.

"Hello, Kitty!!" the voice shouted. Then a figure jumped up from beneath the sand and revealed himself. It was none other than the cunning Gakko.

"Gakko? What're you doing here?! I thought we destroyed you—twice!" Theo yelled in shock. He couldn't believe that Gakko was back once again.

"Third time's a charm, ranger!" Gakko yelled then fired two of his stars at Theo. Theo dodged out of the way of both of them by a hair. Then he heard two figures behind him.

"Double Trouble!" they yelled. Theo then found himself dodging a double jump-kick by Stingerella and Toady. He rolled and dodged the couple. He quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Stingerella?? Toady?! What the—" Theo began, but was cut off by yet another familiar voice.

"Miss us?!" Rantipede yelled as he jumped onto the scene.

"Your ranger days are over 'mighty' jaguar!" Naja said as he as well appeared on the scene. All of the monsters then surrounded Theo on all sides. Theo looked to each one of them in disbelief.

"Naja and Rantipede too?! What's going on here?" Theo asked with a stunned tone.

Gakko stepped forward. "Oh, has the Kitty forgotten already?" Gakko asked as he teammates joined him at his sides.

"We're the Five Fingers of Poison!" The five yelled in unison.

"And were here to destroy you once and for all!" Gakko added.

"So, what, I have to fight all five of you alone?" Theo asked as he looked at the faces of his former opponents.

"Correct!" Naja chimed in, stepping forward.

"What's the matter?" Toady asked stepping up as well.

"Ya scared?" Stingerella finished, stepping beside Toady.

"Hardly." Theo said calmly pulling out his Jungle Fans. "I can juggle more than one job, I can handle more than one Rin Shi."

"Oh, really?" Gakko said sounding amused. Then he and his cronies pulled out their weapons of choice. Gakko his stars, Naja his scythes, Stingerella got on her hands in her fighting stance, Toady held his clawed hands out and Rantipede got into a fighting stance of his own.

"Bring it!" Theo yelled. Then almost instantly all of the FFOP leapt at Theo. Thinking quickly, Theo extended both of his fans in his arms and began to spin rapidly. He hit all five of his opponents, but none of them seemed to take much damage. "What?!" Theo yelled in disbelief.

Then the FFOP attacked him simultaneously with their weapons and moves. Theo took the attack and rolled to the ground to a harsh stop. He cried out as he watched his suit smoke lightly. He struggled to get to his feet. His thoughts were racing at a mile a minute, he would have to think fast as he saw his five opponents racing towards him.

"Only one thing I can think of…Call to the beast inside—Unleash the Jaguar!" Theo cried sending his Blue Jaguar spirit as hard as he could to attack.

"Is he serious?" Naja scoffed. He stood before the Jaguar and slash it away with his two scythes. This caused an explosion that sent Theo flying once again. He hit the sand with a hard thud. He groaned as he made his way to his knees.

In Theo's booth, sweat tricked down his face as he tossed and turned with force. "It's too much…" he mumbled in his sleep. DarkMare watched the whole thing from his cell, smiling at his doings.

On the beach, Theo finally managed to make it to his feet. His body felt so heavy, just standing was seeming to take a toll on him. Gakko stood before him, stars drawn.

"Well, well, looks like we were too much for you after all, Kitty." Gakko laughed, twirling his stars in his hands proudly.

"I can't do this by myself. I need the others to help me! I couldn't handle too much work and I can't handle this! I need the others!" He yelled to himself in his mind. Then he saw something that filled him with relief.

"Someone call for help?" Casey yelled as he and the others ran up from behind him.

"Guys?" Theo said in shock. Lily helped him get to his feet.

"Yep! Come on, T, you know that you can't handle all of this by yourself." Lily said with a friendly pat on the back.

"Yeah, that's why we're a team and not one person." Dominic added.

"And with these five creeps, no wonder you got overwhelmed." RJ said waving his hands about.

"You're right. I'm sorry you guys. I was stupid to think that I could do this alone. Let's destroy them together!" Theo said with a boost of confidence. He gripped his gloves, feeling his powers return.

"Oh, how sweet! I don't know whether to cry or gag…" Stingerella said with a gagging motion.

"Let's end this little reunion!" Gakko yelled gathering his teammates beside him. And once again, the FFOP lined up with their weapons and stances.

"Let's do this as a team." Theo said as he and his teammates lined up alongside each other as well. Then all five rangers summoned their animal spirits.

"Spirit of the Wolf!"

"Spirit of the Rhino!"

"Spirit of the Cheetah!"

"Spirit of the Tiger!"

"Spirit of the Jaguar!"

They called, then all five of the rangers hurled their animal spirits at the five before them. From the force of the blows, the FFOP once again, turned to stone and exploded—for the final time. The rangers watched the smoke fade as pride washed over them.

"See, Theo! All you need is a little teamwork!" Casey said cheerfully.

"True. And an overwhelmed ranger on the battlefield is—"RJ began.

"I know, I know, RJ. Five is stronger than one. Thanks for all of your help guys."

"Anytime." Lily said sweetly.

And with that, Theo felt himself jumping awake. The black fog leaving him as it did with RJ. He slowly sat himself up in the booth.

"Man, that was crazy!" He said to himself. "I do do too much." He said with a sigh as he fell backwards into the booth full of relief.


	5. Dominic and the Darkness

Dai Shi's roar boomed loudly throughout his temple. He grabbed the bars on DarkMare's cage and shook them in fury.

"That's two rangers you failed in destroying! Why hasn't it worked yet?!" Dai Shi yelled angrily.

DarkMare looked up at him with his shining eye. "The ranger's will is strong, Dai Shi. But there are still three rangers left for me to destroy, and I plan on doing so. I won't fail you." DarkMare said.

Dai Shi gave him a piercing look. "You had better not…for your sake." Dai Shi hissed. Camille just stood behind Dai Shi watching all of this happen. The whole idea of this plan still made he feel uneasy, so she had decided to just stay out of it.

"Oh, look." DarkMare said in an amused tone as he focused his gaze once more on the shiny pearl. "The Rhino Ranger is alone on the road, and asleep at that. He's the perfect next target." DarkMare said summoning his mist into the pearl. The mist made it's way to Dominic's car, then into his head like it had with RJ and Theo. Dominic began to shift back and forth. "I know you're greatest fear, ranger…ha ha." DarkMare laughed.

Dominic found himself in a pitch-black room. He couldn't see a thing, not even his own hand in front of his face.

"_What is this place? And how did I get here?" Dominic asked himself out loud as he struggled to see something—anything. He moved his hands to his head and felt his helmet. "When did I morph?" he asked. He wondered around aimlessly, "Something's not right." He said getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I can't see a thing." Then he heard something that shook him to his very core._

"_Dominic, help me! Please help me!" A feminine voice shouted. Dominic felt his breath leave him when he realized who the voice was._

"…_Fran?" He whimpered. He turned his head around quickly in every direction hoping that something would come into view. "Fran!!" he screamed. He could tell by the tone in her voice that she was in real trouble. _

"_Dominic help me! I need you!" Fran yelled once more._

"_Fran, no!" Dominic yelled at the top of his lungs. He never felt so helpless. "Where are you?!" He ran and ran. Hoping at the very least to run into something that would let him know where he was or at least where she was. But he found nothing or no one. He heard her cries ringing in his head. He felt himself slowly becoming more and more overwhelmed. _

"_Dominic, please! Dominic!!" he heard her yelled over and over again. He grabbed his head tightly in frustration and hit his knees. _

"_Where are you." He said softly to himself. "I can't find you!" he yelled in a roar as he pounded the ground as hard as he could._

In his car, Dominic hit the car door as hard as he could. He shifted and grabbed the seat tightly. His breathing was ragged with panic.

"I can't find you." He whimpered in his sleep.

Dominic remained on his knees and sat himself up. He grunted loudly in frustration. Her cries made his ears start to burn. Then he felt a blast that knocked him clear onto his back. It felt like a shot from a laser. His suit smoke and sparked. He cried out then tried to see what or who caused the blast. As he lay on the ground, he held his Rhino Morpher before him in an attempt to defend himself. Then he saw a faint glimmer of light in the distance.

"_Fran?" Dominic spoke aloud praying that he would see her and that she would be all right. Then a figure showed itself in the light._

"_Oh, Dominic, please save me! I need you!" The figure said. It was a fox-like monster with her voice disguised as Fran. The fox was copper colored with bright green eyes. The fox was covered in golden armor and its tail had a black tip._

"_What?!" Dominic said in disbelief. He managed to make it to his feet as he examined the monster._

"_You're so easy to fool, White Ranger! All you need is the right voice!" The fox monster taunted._

"_Who are you?!" Dominic demanded. _

_The fox monster struck a pose. "I'm FoxKnox. I have the spirit of the fox and the power of voice imitation!" FoxKnox boasted. _

"_That was a dirty trick you monster!" Dominic screamed as he darted at FoxKnox with his Rhino Blade drawn. He slashed her hard across the chest twice with his blade. FoxKnox took a few steps back and wiped off her armor—not a scratch. _

"_My, my you're a feisty one! But I'm feistier!!" FoxKnox shouted. Then she took a leap into the air and aimed her black tipped tail at Dominic. When she made her descent, she stuck her tail into Dominic's chest, then pulled it out forcefully. Dominic quickly found himself on the ground. He grasped his chest tightly where FoxKnox had pricked him. His whole body stung all over._

"_What'd you do to me?" he asked in a pained voice. _

"_Oh, nothing!" FoxKnox said prancing around him. She stopped by his head and leaned down. "Except infuse you with some of my temporary paralysis venom. Wouldn't want you freeing my captive!" FoxKnox snickered. Then she started to walk away from him._

"_Captive?" Dominic groaned._

"_Indeed." FoxKnox said simply, then reached out and grabbed Fran, pulling her into the small area of light. _

"_Dom!" Fran yelled, she was both scared yet relieved to see him at the same time. _

"_Fran!" Dominic responded. Then he used all that he could muster to stand. He tried to run to her, but the venom was beginning to take it's toll on him, he was back on the ground in seconds. "I thought…you said that…you didn't have her." Dominic said as he attempted to drag himself across the floor to get to her._

_FoxKnox just watched his feeble attempt to reach her. "Well, how do you think I was able to copy her voice? You need the source, and I have it. It was just enough to get you right where I wanted you…seconds from being destroyed." FoxKnox said with an evil cackle. _

_Dominic's body wouldn't let him move any further he had reached his limit. "Fran…" he said weakly. FoxKnox had a tight hold on Fran and made her way to Dominic, she aimed her tail at Dominic ready to strike._

In Dominic's car, he leaned lifelessly against the seats, even thought this was all a nightmare, it felt more real than anything.

DarkMare meanwhile watched proudly as his nightmare was going according to plan. Dai Shi had a large grin on his face as he watched the events progress. Camille looked at Dai Shi in a saddened manner. She loved him more than anything and if she were in Fran's position, she didn't know if he'd be as determined as Dominic was to save her.

Dominic struggled to look up at Fran. His vision was blurred and his whole body ached.

"_Say goodnight, Rhino Ranger." FoxKnox said evilly. Dominic looked down and focused as hard as he could. FoxKnox began to strike with her tail._

"_Dom, look out!!" Fran cried. And just then his eyes shot open in his helmet and he countered her tail with his Rhino Blade he pushed her away from him and she staggered backwards. He used his Stampede attack to hit FoxKnox, freeing Fran from her grip. Dominic felt overwhelmed and fell to one knee. Fran was by his side in a flash._

"_What?! NO!" FoxKnox screamed. Her armor cracked and fell off of her. The pieces clattered on the ground. Fran helped Dominic get to his feet._

"_Are you okay?" She asked sweetly. _

_Dominic just stared at her for a moment, taking it in that she was all right. "I am now. What about you?" he asked looking her over._

_Perfect. And it looks like you got your mobility back." She said happily. The venom had wore off, and just in time. Dominic stood in front of Fran in a defensive stance._

"_I got this from here, Fran." Dominic said then he looked back at her. "Thanks." He said softly. Fran just nodded her head and smiled. He then quickly turned his attention back to FoxKnox. He looked down and focused all of his energy into his animal spirit._

"_That's not good…" FoxKnox said to herself, realizing that she was stating the obvious. She stood up in an attempt to try and defend herself. _

"_Call to the beast inside—Rhino Power!" Dominic shouted loudly. Then a large White Rhino stampeded towards FoxKnox and rammed it's horn hard in to her._

"_NO!!!" FoxKnox screamed as she rolled about. Then Dominic took this opportunity and leapt high into the air. _

"_Rhino Blade!" he shouted slashing FoxKnox rapidly from side to side. She quickly turned to stone and exploded. The battle was over. Dominic sighed with relief and rested his Rhino Blade on his shoulder. Fran ran to him and in seconds, the lights flickered on. They ended up being in a dark dungeon, only now they light was bright and the exit was open._

_Dominic didn't miss a beat and hugged her as tight as he could. "I'm so sorry." He said lowly. Fran pulled away and looked at him._

"_Don't be. You saved me." She said with a bright smile._

"_But-"_

"_No buts." She cut him off. "You really are a great hero."_

"_Thanks, Fran. You saved me two…in more ways than one." He said placing his hand on her shoulder. Then he saw what he had wanted to see all along—her smile._

In his car, Dominic felt himself jump awake. The black mist left his body and disappeared. He ran his fingers through his hair, which was damp with sweat. He patted his chest where he dreamt FoxKnox had attacked him and felt nothing and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was only a dream…it was only a dream…" He repeated to himself over and over. He shook his head and started his car. "I gotta get home." He said with a somewhat shaken voice, and then drove off.


	6. Lily's Web of Woe

"Only two more rangers, DarkMare! Why have the others survived?" Dai Shi demanded.

"Attacking people in their dreams is a delicate matter, Dai Shi. It's not ever 100% effective." DarkMare explained.

"Well, so far it hasn't been effective at all!" Dai Shi retaliated.

DarkMare shot his head up and peered evilly at Dai Shi with his revealed eye. "You decide, Dai Shi. Do you want me to attempt to destroy the others, or give up entirely? It's your call." DarkMare said slyly. Dai Shi knew that he was backed into a corner. He had no other choice at the moment but to go along with DarkMare's plan.

Dai Shi let out a low growl. "Fine." He said glaring daggers at the dark figure. "Do whatever it takes to destroy them." He added. He hated when he felt like he wasn't in full control. He knew that he was in to deep to stop now; all he could do was watch DarkMare work.

DarkMare placed his gaze back on the pearl in front of him. He saw Lily fast asleep in her room. She seemed content. DarkMare then shut his eyes and summoned the dark mist. Like he did with the others, he sent the mist into the pearl, then into his next victim—Lily.

After the mist made its way into her, he face turned to that of distress. She shifted, pulling her covers closer to her. It was time for her to face her own nightmare.

Lily felt herself sleeping. She thought it was odd that she didn't immediately feel her warm covers around her. What woke her up completely was a light tapping noise that she heard over and over—almost rhythmically. She blinked her eyes open and saw that she was looking through her helmet. She never slept in her ranger uniform, so she immediately got suspicious. The light tapping noise was a water droplet hitting her helmet. As she went to brush it away she noticed that her arms were confined to something. She then tried to mover her legs—same thing.

"_What's going on? I can't move." She said to herself. She tried her best not to immediately panic, but that was soon gone when she saw a few small spiders crawling all around her. "Aah!" she screamed as she felt her body tense in fear. She struggled to get some use of her arms, but had no luck. When she looked over to see what was holding her down, she noticed that it was a shiny white rope-like substance._

"_White rope…and spiders?" she said to herself trying to add everything together. When she got the answer, it felt like the wind was knocked out of her. "I…I'm in a g-giant…web." She said as she began to tremble. She bucked trying to free herself, but the grip the web had on her was a tight one, mere struggling wouldn't be enough to free her. _

In Lily's bed, she squirmed all about. She whimpered with each movement. Although she wasn't really confined, her arms and legs felt as if they were and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't move.

In the web, Lily tried with everything in her to keep herself calm. "It's okay, Lily. There just spiders, they can't hurt you…I don't think." But her own words were failing to comfort her in the least. She shut her eyes as hard as she could, trying to imagine that she was anywhere but here. But she noticed that this was failing to work as well. So she opened her eyes, and much to her dismay, she saw that a spider was crawling right on her helmet. Upon seeing this she let out a shrill scream. She shook her head as hard as she could and sent the spider flying.

"_I have to get out of here!!" She shouted mixed with anger and fear. "…But how?" she said softly. She thought of any possible way, then it hit her. "That's it!" She said beaming with relief. She closed her eyes and concentrated with all of her might. "Call to the beast inside—bring out the Cheetah!" she shouted. Then her cheetah, spirit emerged from her and ran by her head. It chewed through the webbing around her hands and feet making her fall a few feet to the ground. The Cheetah spirit disappeared when it was done with its work. _

_When Lily stood to her feet, she noticed that water was dripping all around her. She shivered from the cold breeze that circulated around; he suit being wet really didn't help matters. She decided to just walk ahead and hope to find an exit, the whole time she was very alert of her surroundings. _

_She wrapped her hands around her arms. "I've got to find my way out of here…I'm freezing." She jumped every time a drop of water hit her, fearing that it was another spider. She soon reached a deep end. "Oh, great!" she sighed while she turned around to trek back. Then she felt herself being shot by something around her wrists and ankles. It was a rope substance and it pinned her against the cave wall—she was back at square one. "Not again!" she cried. She looked over to see that once again webs kept her from moving._

"_Feeling scared yet, Yellow Ranger?" An obnoxious voice yelled from in front of her. _

_Lily's head shot up and she looked ahead to try and identify the voice. "W-who's there?" she stuttered, "And what do you want?" _

"_Hmm, I can answer those questions!" the voice answered. Then the monster jumped into the beam of light coming from the ceiling. "First, I'm Webber, and second, what I want is your fear!" Webber said with a maniacal laugh. _

"_Well, so far so good for you." Lily said admitting that she was horrified. Webber walked closer to her. Then Lily was able to get a good look at her opponent. He was a large grey spider with dark blue legs and red eyes. Webbing hung from all over him matching the color of his white fangs. Lily turned away from him. _

"_Ha. Your fear amuses me little cheetah." Webber said in an eerie whisper voice. Lily quivered in fear. "Let's have a little fun." He added. Then he pulled a tarantula from behind him and placed it on Lily's arm. Lily immediately began to panic. "The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout…" Webber sang to add to her fear._

"_Down came the rain and washed the spider out…" she thought to herself. Then she looked upward. She saw that the droplets from before were coming from the heavy falling rain outside. Sticks and leaves covered the cave's top preventing too much rain from entering. "That's it…" She thought to herself as Webber continued his song. He was getting stronger from the fear radiating off of Lily, as the tarantula got closer to her head. He saw Lily look down and her body tense. _

"_Don't bother calling on your Cheetah spirit to get rid of these webs." Webber smirked._

"_Oh, I'm not getting rid of the webs," she said then looked up face to face with Webber, "I'm getting rid of you." She smirked. _

_Webber took a step back. "Wha?" he said. Lily looked up and sent all her focus above her._

"_Bring out the Cheetah!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Then her Yellow Cheetah emerged from her once more, it scaled the cave walls making it's way upwards, clawing away at the top, making the rain begin crashing down. Along with all of the water that had been stored on top. Small spiders and water fell all around them._

_Webber's face was that of utter shock. "No! Not the rain!" he cried holding his arms above him to shield the rain. The rain washed away the webs hold on Lily. _

"_And it's gonna wash you out!" Lily said pointing at him._

"_This can't be!! I hate water! NOOO!!!" Webber screamed as water fell all over him and his arachnid buddies, turning them into stone, then exploding into nothingness. _

"_Yes, I faced my fear!" Lily cheered happily._

Then Lily jolted awake in her bed. Her hair fell in her face and she blew it away. She was afraid to move for a few moments as she scanned the room to confirm where she was. She was still shaking a little and was panting softly. She grabbed the stuffed cheetah next to her and hugged it tightly.

"What a dream, Chester, what a dream." She let out a heavy relieved sigh. "I _never_ want to have a dream like that _ever _again." She said pressing the hard nose of the cheetah playfully. She placed the animal beside her and rose from her bed. "I need a glass of water." She said putting on her yellow robe and then headed for the loft.


	7. Late Night Regroup

When Lily entered the loft, she saw that RJ was sitting in his chair watching late night shows on this TVs. She walked groggily over to him.

"RJ…?" she asked checking to see if he had fallen asleep.

RJ jumped at hearing her suddenly. He un-reclined his chair and stood. "Oh, Lily, my student in yellow, what brings you here so late?" he asked.

"Well, I had a nightmare and just came to get a glass of water." She said pointing to the refrigerator. "I could ask you the same question." She said with a playful grin.

"It's a small world, I had a nightmare too, so I decided to catch up on my Soaps." RJ said. Lily raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Uh, I mean reality shows…yeah." RJ said trying to recover himself.

"Riiiight." Lily said nodding her head slowly. Then the two heard a crash come from the kitchen that made them jump. "What was that?" Lily asked.

"Let's find out." RJ answered, then he and Lily started to head down to the kitchen. When they reached the stairs, Lily stopped.

"Wait. Maybe you should shut off your TVs. You wouldn't want it to wake Casey up in his room from the noise." Lily said, she always tried to think of Casey.

RJ pulled a remote from his pocket. "Right-o!" he said hitting a button to turn the sets off. Lily smiled and the two continued down to the kitchen.

Dai Shi was seething with anger in his temple. It was all he could do to keep from destroying DarkMare right then and there. He paced beside DarkMare's cell.

"So, let me get this straight, you tried to destroy four of the rangers with your alleged "nightmares", and they all found the strength to overcome them!" Dai Shi shouted. He got right up against DarkMare's cell bars. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't destroy you!"

DarkMare's eye just look up at him, the gaze was not amused. "Have I not been showing the rangers their greatest fears? Their wills are strong, so in my final attempt, I'll make sure that the other rangers will interfere." DarkMare said in almost a whisper.

Dai Shi pushed himself off of the bars. He seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Just don't mess this up…or I'll destroy you quicker than you could ever think." Dai Shi said evilly.

"I'll make sure that this nightmare is the most horrific of all." DarkMare said, his voice barely audible. His bright eye watched Casey sleeping peacefully in his bed. DarkMare closed his eyes to summon the dark fog, and slowly sent it into him.

"Sweet dreams, Red Ranger. Hope you enjoy nightmares, because you'll never awake from yours." DarkMare hissed.

Down in the JKP kitchen, Lily and RJ entered to find Theo removing his bright orange robe.

"Theo, you're still down here?" Lily asked in a surprised manner.

"Yeah, I thought you said you were going to give yourself a break." RJ added. Theo threw his apron on one of the booths and sighed as he made his way over to them.

"Well, I was. But I fell asleep down here and had this…freaky nightmare. Then I woke up and was just about to head upstairs." Theo explained.

Wait." RJ said with a pause. "You had a nightmare too?" RJ asked with a look of concern.

"Too?" Theo asked with a confused look.

"Yeah," Lily chimed in, "RJ and I had nightmares tonight as well. I thought it was just a coincidence, but if you had one too…" Lily trailed off.

"Maybe something we ate." Theo said grasping at straws. RJ just thought him a somewhat dirty look.

"Hey, RJ Specials don't cause bad dreams. If anything they help you sleep better." RJ said defending himself.

"Maybe it really _is _just a coincidence. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Theo said with a groggy yawn. He began to pass by Lily and RJ when he heard the front door open. Dominic walked in. He was surprised when he saw the others, given how late it was.

"Are you just getting in, Dom?" Theo asked making his way back into the room.

"Yeah," Dominic said closing the door behind him. He sat at the booth Theo was in previously and buried his face in his hands. "I had to pull over because I was too tired to drive, next thing I know I'm waking up from the worst nightmare I've ever had in my life." He sighed.

Theo, RJ and Lily all gave one another a freaked out look. Dominic looked at them confused. "What? What happened?" Dominic asked worried by their looks.

RJ paced around the room. "We all had nightmare too. Freaky ones. Freakier than normal ones." RJ explained, his hands moving about.

"Really?" Dominic said standing he had a look of fear on his face.

"Really." Lily answered. "It wasn't like a regular bad dream. In my dream, I almost was defeated and if I didn't stop it…" Lily trailed off.

"You'd be destroyed for real." Dominic finished with wide eyes.

RJ stopped pacing and turned to the others. "Wait. In my dream I was almost destroyed as well. What about you, Theo?" he asked pointing at him.

"Yeah, the same. I felt that if I didn't defeat my monster, not only would I be destroyed in my nightmare, but I'd be destroyed for real. Just like Lily said." Theo told them.

"This is bad." Lily said worriedly.

"Sounds like an evil plan hatched by Dai Shi no doubt." RJ said. "Important thing is that we managed to survive our nightmares." The rangers took a brief sigh of relief. RJ's words seemed to calm them. "Wait." RJ said holding up a hand.

Lily's eyes grew wide with fear. "Has anyone seen Casey all night?" she asked hoping with everything in her that someone had. The rangers felt their breath leave them. None of them had seen Casey tonight and that wasn't good.

Dai Shi and DarkMare watched the events with the others unfold from the temple.

"DarkMare! The rangers are on to our plan! They're going to awaken the Red Ranger before you can inflict your nightmare on him!" Dai Shi shouted in the cell.

DarkMare just let out and evil laugh. "I have already taken care of that my liege." Dai Shi just gave an untrusting look to him.

"We have to get to Casey before they can get to him!" Lily said. Then she and her friends all made a mad dash for the stairs. But they crashed into something that they couldn't see. Lily hit it first causing her to fall into the others.

"What was that?!" Lily said pushing herself off of the others. RJ stepped in front of her and lightly tapped the space before him. A surge went through where he touched.

"It's an invisible shield to prevent us from getting upstairs." RJ stated.

"Well what do we do?!" Theo shouted, trying to see the wall.

RJ just sighed and shrugged. "We just have to hope that he survives his like we did." He said plainly. Lily scoffed in anger and put her hands over her face. Dominic pounded the counter beside him.


	8. Casey's Identity Crisis

Upstairs, Casey began to writhe in his bed. His own nightmare had begun.

Casey wandered around aimlessly. He found himself morphed in the loft. He found this odd, seeing as how he and his teammates swing out of the loft before morphing. The loft seemed darker than usual; it was almost like a dark presence filled the room.

"_Hello?" he uttered as he scanned the room. "Lily? Theo, Dom…RJ?" he said slowly. He got no responses—just silence._

"_Hello Tiger Master." An eerie, yet familiar voice spoke._

_Casey began to look around quicker. "Jarrod? Is that you?" he said, turning around so he couldn't get ambushed. His voice was angry. _

"_Well, well." Dai Shi said he stood on the upper level of the loft, leaning against the handrails. "Nothing gets by you. Not bad for a cub." He said._

"_I'm not a cub anymore! And how did you get in here anyways?" Casey shouted up to him._

"_That's not important." Dai Shi said pushing himself off of the rail and made his way down the stairs. "What is important is that we've got some unfinished business to settle."_

"_Like what?" Casey snapped._

"_Like you taking my place as the leader at Pai Zhuq. I haven't forgotten that." Dai Shi said, his voice trailing off into an evil whisper. _

"_Oh, come on, Jarrod! You have no one to blame but yourself! You're the one who lost your temper and attacked Master Mao, not me!" Casey yelled._

_Dai Shi got right up in Casey's face. "That may be, but I'm still determined to make you pay." Then he backed up and he and Casey got into a stalemate. Dai Shi just smiled evilly as they circled one another and the Red Ranger pulled out his Shark Sabers._

"_I don't want to do this, Jarrod. You're my brother." Casey said hesitant in his movements. _

"_That makes one of us. Brother or not, I will see to it that you're destroyed." Dai Shi said pointing at him. _

_Casey sighed and held up his sabers more confidently. "If that's how it has to be." _

_Then the brothers leapt with force at one another. Casey swung his blades hard, but he felt himself holding back a little bit. Dai Shi threw his fists at him one after the other, Casey reflected them with his weapon. Dai Shi grabbed the blades and pushed Casey against the wall, making a case of CDs topple over._

"_You shamed the academy! I was there for years, and never had any problems until you showed up! Only there a week and you replaced me!" Dai Shi yelled as he pinned his brother. "You're nothing more than a cub!" Dai Shi then threw his fist hard at Casey's head. Casey ducked, making Dai Shi punch the wall, he shook his hand from the punch allowing Casey to reverse Dai Shi's move. He now held him against the wall._

"_I may have only been there a week, but at least I never betrayed my master!" Casey retaliated. "I don't need you! I have my friends behind me!" he screamed._

_Dai Shi pushed Casey off of him. "Not for long." He boasted. _

_Casey tried to catch his breath. "What?" _

"_You'll see soon enough." Dai Shi said lowly. Then he leapt high into the air and crashed into Casey, this time pinning him on the ground. Casey cried out when he felt his back hit the hard floor._

"_What're you doing?!" Casey shouted, struggling to get free._

"_I'm here to take what's truly mine! Say goodbye to your ranger powers brother!!" Dai Shi roared then pressed his hand against his brother's chest. Casey just glared hurtfully at him. "From now on, I will be the Red Ranger, and YOU will be Dai Shi!" he screamed. Then Dai Shi began to drain Casey's ranger powers from him. Red energy flowed out of Casey's body and went into Dai Shi. Casey yelled from the pain the filled his body. Then his powers were completely gone. He just lay there pale and weak. He didn't struggle to get away anymore, he felt lifeless. Dai Shi got off of him and let out an evil laugh. Dai Shi had a red glow about him._

In Casey's bed, beads of sweat covered his body. His eyes were shut tightly. He didn't move much, he felt as weak as he did in his dream.

Casey's whole body felt like jelly. He shakily stood and quickly reached for the banister to grab onto. He felt like he could barely breathe.

"_Give me…back…my ranger powers!" he cried out as he struggled to catch his breath. _

_Dai Shi let out an amused chuckle. "Not a chance!" he said. He threw his arm before him and sent a gold wave of energy into his brother. Casey tried to fight it, but the powers of Dai Shi were too much for him in his state. And when it was over, and he looked at his hands, his worst fear was realized—he had become Dai Shi. He wore the Lion Armor that Dai Shi once had and couldn't get himself free of it. _

"_No…" Casey mumbled to himself._

"_Yes." Dai Shi said putting his arms at his sides, transforming in to the Red Ranger._

"_What did you do?!" Casey screamed looking himself and his brother over._

_Dai Shi looked at himself in this form, he looked exactly like Casey when he was in ranger form. "Now for the finishing touches." Dai Shi said. Then he sent a clear beam to hit Casey's throat, he sent the same beam at his._

_Casey grabbed his throat. "What was-" he began, but stopped when he realized the voice coming out of him wasn't his own, it was Dai Shi's. He just looked at him._

"_Pretty sneaky, huh?" Dai Shi said with Casey's voice. "Now your buddies will destroy YOU thinking it's ME." He boasted. _

_Casey balled his fists tight. "You monster!" he screamed darting at Dai Shi with all his might._

_Dai Shi just shook his head and concentrated. "Spirit of the Tiger!" he yelled, pummeling him with the tiger spirit. Casey landed hard on the loft's floor. Dai Shi strode over to him and stepped on his wrist. Casey yelled and grabbed onto Dai Shi's leg—he wasn't budging._

"_I told you that'd I'd make you pay, my brother, and I meant it." Dai Shi said coldly. Then pressed a button on his red helmet. "You guys, help me! Dai Shi's in the loft and attacking me!" he said with Casey's voice._

"_What?! He's in the loft? We'll be right there!" Lily said with haste over the feed. Then the line ended._

"_Why, Dai Shi? Why are you doing all this?" Casey asked with a weak voice._

_Dai Shi just knelt down to Casey's face, causing him further pain on his wrist. "Because I can." He said in an evil whisper. Then the two hears the others rushing up the stairs. Dai Shi walked over to meet them. Casey struggled to sit himself up. The rangers eyes grew wide when they saw what they thought was Dai Shi on the floor._

"_Wow, you weren't kidding, he really IS here!" Theo said with surprise._

_RJ narrowed his eyes. "But how? We were all downstairs?" he said._

"_What does that matter? I say we just destroy him!" the man in red yelled._

"_Good point. You're reign of terror ends here Dai Shi!" Dominic shouted pointing at him._

_Casey made it to his feet and felt his heart beginning to beat faster._

Down in JKP, the rangers were trying anything and everything to try and break down the barrier. They smacked it as hard as they could with mops and stools.

Dominic threw the stool down hard on the ground. "Ugh! It's no use! Nothing's working!" he yelled.

"Well we can't give up! Casey could really be in trouble!" Lily said with worry.

RJ sat on a stool and thought. "Chances are that Dai Shi made this wall impassable, so we'll just have to find some way _to _pass it." RJ said.

"But how, RJ?" Theo said smacking the wall with his mop—getting nothing. "Smacking it doesn't seem to be accomplishing anything." Theo huffed.

"We don't even have our Morphers to contact him." Lily said. "Mine's on my vanity." She said disappointedly.

"Mine's in my chair." RJ said, feeling really stupid that their master failed to have his Morpher at a crucial time.

"Mine's upstairs too." Theo sighed.

Dominic remained silent and looked at his wrist. "Luckily for you guys I pulled over and made it home late." Dominic smiled. He held his bracelet up to his mouth. "Casey? Come in, Casey! Case, do you read me?" he said over and over.

Meanwhile, beside Casey's bed laid his Solar Morpher. Dominic's voice came through the feed, but Casey was too deep in his sleep to hear.

Dominic put his arm back down with defeat. "Sorry guys."

"What do we do now?" Lily said with a hint of panic.

Then, a light bulb went off in RJ's head. "Hey! Let's try our animal spirits!"

"Couldn't hurt." Theo added.

"Whatever it takes." Lily said. The four rangers stood side by side and began to concentrate.

"Wolf!"

"Jaguar!"

"Rhino!"

"Cheetah!"

They all yelled one at a time. Then their animal spirits from within emerged and began to attack the invisible wall full force.

Lily hesitantly opened one of her eyes. "Is it working?"

"Very slowly, but it's working." RJ said flashing Lily a smile of hope. Lily smiled back at him. Then the team focused on breaking down the wall.

The rangers stood before the man they thought to be Dai Shi. Casey extended his arms as he looked to them, he knew better than to move.

"_Guys, it's me, Casey." He said in a calm tone._

"_Nice try, Dai Shi! You can't fool us!" Lily said as she got into a fighting stance._

_Dai Shi walked in front of the rangers. "He's lying! Let's just destroy him…now!" he said eagerly. Casey was speechless. He felt like all he could was stand there helplessly._

"_Calm down, man. Dai Shi's right there and apparently injured. Also we've got him surrounded." RJ said waving his arms around. _

_Theo walked forward with an angry look on his face. "Your terror ends here! Ready?" He asked the others._

"_Ready!" They replied. "Jungle Beast, Spirit Unleash!" the four said and morphed into action._

"_Any last words?" Dominic said, resting his blade on his shoulder. Casey paused as he watched his old friends pull their weapons on him. His heart sank and he began to panic._

In Casey's bed his chest rose and fell at a harsh pace. His nightmare was getting the best of him.

Casey chose to remain still. "Guys…please…it's me. I'm your friend." He said softly to them. He glanced over to Lily. "Come on, Lil. You know it's me." He said. Lily gave him a look, like at that moment she actually believed him. When she realized what she was doing she shook it off.

"_Nice try. I know this is the real Casey." She answered, placing her hand on Dai Shi's shoulder. Dai Shi let out an evil chuckle—he was loving this._

"_Lily…" Casey said to himself. This really was a nightmare; he had lost the one thing that really mattered most to him—Lily._

"_Enough talk." Dai Shi sneered. "Let's do this." He commanded. Then the four colorful rangers all charged forward with their weapons._

_To him, it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. He just watched his friends getting closer. He knew that this was the moment he would be destroyed. He knew that he wouldn't fight back; they thought he was by their side. He knew that as soon as he was out of the way, Dai Shi would ambush them. He just hoped that he was a good enough leader that they would be able to handle it._

_The rangers leapt to strike. He didn't even try to defend himself. Right when their attacks made contact, he felt himself shoot awake._

"Aah!" he screamed. He shot up so fast that he was sitting up. He was drenched in sweat and breathing very hard.

"You're alright!" Lily reassured him, stroking his arm gently. Casey looked and saw that all of his friends were in the room and destroying him seemed like the last thing they wanted to do. His friends made it through the wall.

"What?" Casey asked between breaths, looking confusedly at his four friends.

"You were having a nightmare caused by Dai Shi. We all had them, but he must have went all out on yours." RJ explained.

"But…" Casey said softly, he just stared down at his blankets. "It felt so…real. I dreamt that you all though I was Dai Shi and no matter what I did, I couldn't get through to you." He turned to Lily. "Not even you."

"Well, you're alright now." She said pushing his hair back. Casey managed to crack a smile back to her.

"I'm just glad we made it here in time." RJ sighed with relief.

"What do you mean 'made it in time'? In time for what?" Casey asked, thrown by RJ's words.

"If any of us were destroyed in our dreams, we would have been destroyed for good." Lily explained as she sat on the side of his bed.

"Wow…I'm glad you guys made it here in time too. And I'm sure glad you all are alright." Casey said.

"That's what real friends are for." Dominic chimed in.

"We just have to be extra careful when we sleep from now on." Theo joked.

RJ walked over to and stared out of a nearby window. "Doubt it. Dai Shi never tries the same scheme twice. But all the same, we need to be ready for anything else he may send our way." RJ explained, soothing yet worrying them at the same time.

"We will." Lily answered. She looked at Casey and noticed that he still had fear in his eyes. "You alright?" she asked. Casey just looked at her, then to RJ and the others.

RJ picked up the hint. "Hey, Theo, Dom, why don't we go downstairs and…clean up the kitchen?"

"But we alre-" Theo began but Dominic elbowed him in the rib. "Yeah, let's go." He added. Then the three rangers all headed down to the kitchen.

Lily scooted in closer to him. "What's bothering you?" she asked.

Casey ran his fingers through his hair. "Just seeing you all over Dai Shi and hating me…it killed me." He admitted.

"It was only a dream." She said sweetly.

"I know, but I can't get over how real it felt." He sighed then looked in her eyes. "You know, the worst part of the dream wasn't me being destroyed…it was the thought of losing _you_ that was the real nightmare."

Lily placed her hand on his. "You could _never _lose me." She said. "I promise you that."

"I promise too." He said with a small smile then he pushed hair out of her eyes then grazed her cheek. He placed his hand on it, moved in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, and he did the same to her.


	9. A Little R&R

In Dai Shi's temple, he gripped DarkMare's bars hard one final time. You could see the fury radiating from his eyes.

"You failed. You failed MISERABLY!!!" he screamed.

DarkMare just gave his one eye stare. "Their will is too strong, it cannot be broken." He said.

"Because your incompetent!!!" he retaliated.

"No." DarkMare said simply. "To try and destroy those rangers would be a foolish act. No even the likes of you can defeat them. I have seen it myself."

Dai Shi leaned in closer. "I _will _have them destroyed." He hissed.

"You will fail." DarkMare answered.

Dai Shi let out a roar that filled the room. The walls shook from his anger. He sent a wave of golden energy at DarkMare's pearl, causing it to crack. "You'll pay for failing me!"

"You may destroy me but you won't destroy the rangers." DarkMare stated calmly—he accepted his fate. "Be forewarned." This only fueled Dai Shi's rage. He increased the power on the pearl; DarkMare was sucked into it in a black mist. Once he was full inside, the pearl shattered. DarkMare was gone for good.

Camille now found it safe enough to stand beside Dai Shi now that DarkMare was gone. "Don't worry, Dai Shi. We _will_ destroy the rangers, we just have to find a way to destroy their will." She said trying to cheer him up the slightest bit.

Dai Shi just stormed off. "That's what I'm afraid of." He muttered.

The next morning the rangers were all relaxing in a secluded area in the park. RJ swayed side to side gently in a hammock, Theo read a thick novel in the cool shade, Dominic and Fran read a book together under a tree, and Casey and Lily just lay in the grass holding hands watching the clouds. It was the perfect day for some R&R.

"So team, how do we feel?" RJ asked placing his hands behind his head.

"Wonderful." Lily said looking at Casey.

"Yeah," he said looking back at her. "It's perfect."

"A little R&R never hurt anyone. Enjoy the break. Sometimes resting is just as important as sparring. Remember, an overworked mind is a useless one." RJ stated.

"It's nice that Fran and I get to catch up on our reading." Dominic said kissing her on the cheek.

Fran blushed sweetly. "Yeah." She said softly.

"This _is_ nice. Fresh air, blue skies—" Theo began but was hit in the head by a Frisbee. "—the stray Frisbees." He continued rubbing the back of his head.

Then everyone began to laugh. Everyone was happy. Happy, rested, and laughing.

THE END

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that read this story, left a review, or put it on any alert list. I value your opinions, and am glad to share my stories with you. Please, no flames. ^_^**


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